ATB Podcast- Gregg Petersmeyer 1 All the Best Podcast 52. Over A Thousand Points of Light Featuring former Senior White House Staffer, Gregg Petersmeyer Gregg: January 15th, 1993. Dear Gregg, thank you for your loyal service as assistant to the President director of the office of National Service. Parting with friends and colleagues is never easy, but I'm proud of each member of my team and deeply appreciate your contribution to our accomplishments. Four years ago, I said that I sought the presidency in order to build a better America. We've achieved that goal together. And we have also met the challenges of a changing, sometimes turbulent world through a host of achievements. Among them America 2000, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Clean Air Act of 1990 and the Americans for Disabilities Act. We've made genuine breakthroughs and honored our commitments to advance the wellbeing of the American people. I'm also very pleased by the work that was accomplished through the points of light initiative. With your terrific efforts and the help of your staff, we've established what I believe will be a lasting positive legacy of service to others. And I'm grateful for the dedication and energy with which you approached this important work. I also vowed four years ago to keep America strong. The success of our efforts is evident in the resounding victories for Liberty and the rule of law in the Panama and the Persian Gulf. Of course, few achievements have been more far reaching than the death of Imperial communism in the former Soviet Union, a triumph that has rekindled hope for millions of people. I believe that history ATB Podcast- Gregg Petersmeyer 2 will credit our steady handling of these complex perilous events as the guarantee of America's success. You have my lasting respect and gratitude for your service at the White House and you can take pride in knowing that you have made a difference for our country. Barbara joins me in sending heartfelt thanks and best wishes to you and Julie for the future. Sincerely, George H.W. Bush. George: In the first place, I believe that character is a part of being President. Barbara: And life really must have joy. Sam: This is "All the Best." The official podcast of the George and Barbara Bush Foundation. I'm your host, Sam LeBlond, one of their many grandchildren. Here, we celebrate the legacy of these two incredible Americans through friends, family, and the foundation. This is "All the Best." George: I remember something my dad taught me. He said, write your mother, serve your country, and he said, tell the truth. And I've tried to do that in public life. All through it. Barbara: You are a human being first and those human connections with children, with friends are the most important investments you will ever make. George: We stand tonight before a new world of hope and possibilities for our children. A world we could not have contemplated a few years ago. Sam: On behalf of our family and the George and Barbara Bush Foundation. This is "All the Best." Gregg Petersmeyer has served in the White House staff for two Presidents. first with Richard Nixon as the youngest staff assistant and then again for my grandfather, President George H.W. Bush on the senior White House staff as an assistant to the President. During his time and my grandfather's administration, Gregg was the founding director of the White House Office of National Service, he helped establish the Points of Light Foundation and was instrumental in the passage of the National and Community Service Act of 1990. Gregg also created the Daily Point of Light Award, the first daily Presidential recognition program in American history, which continues through the Points of Light Foundation today. Currently Gregg sits on the board of Points of Light and is the founder and CEO of Personal Pathways, LLC. Gregg, thank you so much for joining us on "All the Best." Gregg: Thank you, Sam. I'm glad to be with you. ATB Podcast- Gregg Petersmeyer 3 Sam: Well, Gregg, I want to start with something fun. I've seen a terrific photo of you with my grandfather in China during the 1970s, which means you must have met my grandparents long before the Presidential campaigns. How did you first meet? Gregg: It was actually the summer of 1969. I was finishing my freshman year in college and I was a summer intern in the Nixon White House. It was the first summer Nixon had been in the White House and Julia and David Eisenhower, President Nixon's daughter and son-in-law invited me to go to a baseball game, the Washington Senators back then. He had up team and it was an evening game in July. And I was sitting with them and Congressman George Bush came over to say hello. And he knew them. I had not met him. They introduced me and he had met my father, I think some years before and he asked me what I was doing and I told him I was there for the summer. He said, gee, you know, you ought to come over on Sundays. We do hamburgers in the back and a bar and I would love to have you. And then a couple of days later, I get a call from his office, inviting me that next Sunday to come to their house in Washington. You know, I became one of his 5 million best friends and it was really remarkable. I came back each summer in college to work at the White House and then full-time after I graduated. And so I continued to see him for a number of years during the Nixon presidency. And then periodically after that. Sam: Our podcast is all about service and everyone we've spoken with has served and/or helped others in some meaningful way. I want to know your path of service, Gregg. Gregg: Well, I don't think my story is very special actually. I grew up in a household where my parents did volunteer work. I was very active as a boy scout. I did all kinds of service projects on weekends and did the same in school and through the church I was a member of. I later got involved as a volunteer in political campaigns. And now, you know, as I've gotten older, I've remained involved in all kinds of organizations. Typically, you know, now at the board level. Sam: So Gregg, what drew you to politics in the first place? Was it the people and meeting people like my grandfather, or was it something that you just innately knew that you wanted to be a part of? Gregg: It's a good question. I actually, in 1968, did a project in high school on the Republican alternatives to Lyndon Johnson, who was people thought was going to run for another term. At the time the candidates were Nelson Rockefeller, Ronald Reagan, George Romney, Senior, Mitt Romney's father ATB Podcast- Gregg Petersmeyer 4 and Richard Nixon. And I sent away for all kinds of material and got material back and got about an inch or an inch and a half of stuff from all the candidates except Richard Nixon, whose office sent back about six inches worth of material. Much of it very interesting. I mean, he wrote an article in foreign affairs the year before about opening relations with China, said we needed to reform the welfare system. We needed to start an environmental agency. So I ended up saying, I really wanted to work for him that summer. And it's pretty counter to what my friends were doing, which were pretty much lining up after Jean McCarthy, during that period or Bobby Kennedy actually, before he was killed. Sam: Let's fast forward to 1989. My grandfather is President and right away he creates the White House Office of National Service with you as the first director. And in that position, you helped him launch a movement known today as the Points of Light. How did this movement come to life and what did the Office of National Service do? Gregg: It was an unusual office in that it was really not about the President's role as leader of the government or as head of his political party. It was really about him as leader of the nation. And in that sense, it was more of a cultural office, which again is a little bit out of sync. I used to tell colleagues on the White House staff who were upset that he was spending so much time on Points of Light, that this really was a different type of leadership he was trying to initiate. And it was really around trying to have people discover or be reaffirmed that they needed to help with our nation's problems, that there were children that didn't know how to read, which is something that obviously Barbara Bush was very committed to. There were all kinds of problems, which bureaucracies weren't going to solve, and that actually relationships needed to be engaged. And he had foreshadowed all of this in both his Republican National Convention speech and in his inaugural. When in both, he talked about his view of what America is and a big part of that was at the bright center is the individual who really is responsible for his or her family, for their community, for organizations they're part of, but that the country really is made up of tens of thousands of communities and tens of thousands of organizations all spread like stars across a broad and peaceful sky, like a thousand points of light.